Search results

Hi Guys... My 21 gallons of Merlot from 2011 is doing fine in five-gallon pet carboys. But my SO2 readings in all four are very high: 75-100. Is this ok, a disaster, fixable, needs repair somehow, etc. Many thanks... Bruce

Can anyone tell me what the French word Pinot means (I assume it is a family name) and what Noir means. Thanks...

Many of the winos that chat about wines in magazines & newspapers mention the fruit flavor of some wines. To me, all the fruit flavors I ever taste are those of grapes. What other flavors do they identify, cherry, almonds, plums, what?? Are these added artifically by the wineries? This...

Without a lot of experience in testing, I ordered a set of titrets for testing free sulfite in wine. I have red wine to test. The box said that the titrets were for white wines only. The company handled my email well, offering a refund. But they also said that the titrets were a reliable SO2...

Every book on homemaker's wine refers to Clinitests as if it was a popular test for wine. There are only three in most drugstores; one for testing sugar in urine, one for testing sugar in blood and one for testing blood in urine. None for testing sugar in wine. Which should I use? Thanks...

Picked, crushed and full de-stemed 360 lbs merlot, pH: 32, TA: 0.9, Brix: 23, cool. Added 50ppm sulfite, 3g Lallyzme, 1g DAP, 1oz Fermaid, 50g French Red. At first punch-down added Ft Rouge sacrificial tannin and Opti Red nutrient. Added warming blanket and temperature went to 85. It...

Problem: Figures at crush time do not fie. We carefully weighed a gross 360 lbs of merlot grapes, including stems and containers, and a net of 320 lbs of must. Using 6.25 gallons of must per 100 lbs of grapes, we figured we would have 20 gallons of must. We got 35 gallons, 33 gallons in a...

I count eight things I should, or could, add at or about crush time for merlot. I read that some should come before others with some lag time involved for some. If I DID use them all, what would be their order of entry and lag time if any? Acid fix (if out of limits, cc or tt); enzyme; dap...

Confusion: Jon Iverson says in his book page 73, "When the hydrometer indicates that the brix is 0 ..." But then in the same paragraph he says, "The hydrometer is no longer accurate because of the high alcohol level ...". So how do I tell when the must is at 0 degrees? How inaccurate is it...

What can I tell my wife or mother about the possibility of spiders, earwigs, bird poop, etc in the must? They were horrified to hear that commecial vineyards do not wash grapes before crushing and that I should not wash my grapes either...

In a large commercial vineyard, what is the most critical factor in selecting a harvest date -- pH, TA, Brix, available lavor and harvestors, weekends, etc ??

Many references mention peptic enzyme (sp ?) added at crush time. But others fail to mention it. What should I do with good merlot grapes at crush? Is it necessary; does it help; is there any possible problems encountered; finally, does it work? I plan to do a five-day cold soak because of...

I have a homemade basket for a press and I am using a set of galvanized bands to hold it together. Question: Should I be using those metal bands or shift to the strong, green plastic bands used in commercial bundling of things like lumber? Fundamental question: With the short, momentary contact...

I am constructing a grape crusher based on a new idea. What wood adhesives (glue) can I use assuming the grape juice contact with the unit will be only momentary? How about Gorilla glue? Many thanks...